Decorticating machine



Sept. 15, 1942,". w. A. BOYCE DECORTICATNG MACHINE f Filed April 13,1940

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'my/Emea,

n l Ji, Il v /e-/CL TORNEY W Hloma ce sept.f15, 1942. w A, BOYCE 2,295,929

.DECORTICATNG MACHINE Filed April 13, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 y l/ Mllff/ INVENTOR l TORNEY Patented sept. 15, 1942` UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 2,295,929 DEcoR'rrcATING MACHINE a I William A. Boyce, Bridgeport, Conn; Application prii 13, 1940, serial No. 329,512 a 4 claims. (c1.19;25)

My present invention relates to fiber preparing devices and more particularly to an improved scutching machine for ax, hemp, ramie, and the like.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a scutching machine, having the usual stalk feeding and controlling mechanism for feeding stalks to and over an apron and with such operation associate a scutchin-g rotor or rotors, or a train of rotors for mechanically removing the shives from the fibrous Ipart of the stalks. I have, however, devised a new and improved combination of devices associated with the usual scutching elements above referred to and which enable me to more rapidly and eiliciently,v both from a productive and loss of material point of View, process material of this character.

In my present invention I arrange the apron preferably with a plurality of parallelly arranged substantially vertical situated grooves, and with means for reciprocating the apron longitudinally, that is, in a direction transverse to the direction of feed of iibrous material thereover to thereby effect the turning or.twisting of the stalks of ber onits axis and thus present every portion thereof to the action of the scutching roller. Also, I -provide means for use in connection with the scutching rotor or rotors, or train of rotors by which either one or more, or a :plurality of scutching rotors simultaneously may be reciprocated longitudinally of their axes of rotation, and such reciprocation may take place in conjunction with reciprocating apron or any other combination of movements of the various elements may be produced as desired.

' A/feature of my invention, therefore, is an imlax, hemp, ramie and the like.

Another object of myinvention is an improved scutching machine in which `means is `provided for feeding stalks off material into a scutching or decorticating zone and moving such stalks. laterally of their line of travel and to and fro, so as to impart a wavy or shaky motion to tlie stalks during the scutching operation.

rStill another object of my invention is an improved scutching machine in which a reciproeating apron is provided over which the stalks to be scutched are fed and with which apron is associated a scutching rotor.

- proved decorticating machine for decorticating Other features of the invention will appear as the description of the invention progresses.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a portionv of a scutching machine in which my present invention is embodied. l

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation on the line 2--2 of Fig. l, looking in the direction of the arrows shown in connection with such figure.'

Fig. 3' is a sectional elevation taken on the lline 3-3 of Fig. l, and showing a web of fibrous producing stalks movable out of their line of travel lby the reciprocation of the reciprocating apron.

. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. I3', but illustrating the distortion of the web of fibrous material in the opposite direction from that shown in Fig. 3, due to the reciprocation of the apron in the opposite direction.

Fig. 5 is a sectional -plan view taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2 and showing the lowermost scutching rotor in elevation, and also illustrating the distortion of the web of -brous'material which takes place when the upper or lower rotors are individually reciprocated.

Fig'. 6` is a View similar to Fig. 5 and showing the .distortion in the opposite direction of the web of fibrous material when the upper and lower rotors are reciprocat'ed in the opposite direction to that illustrated in Fig. 5.

Fig. '7;.is a perspective view of a portion of the apron illustrating the corrugation or grooves on the working tface thereof, and

Fig.- 8 is a perspective view of one end of an anvil showing a modified form of apron associated therewith.

Referring to the drawings, I0 designates side frame members connected at one end to an upright end-frame member II. Journaled inthe side frame members is a shaft I2 carrying a crushing and feed roll I3, smooth or corrugated as desired. Formed in the upper ends of the end frame" member II is a slot I4, in each of which is slidably mounted a bearing block |15. Rotatably mounted in the bearing blocks I5 is a shaft AI6 .carrying Ia crushing and feed roll I1, of the same character as the crushing and feed roll I3. The open top of each of the slots I4 is closed by a member I8 in which is threaded a screw I9, such screw I9 `carrying at its lower end and within the slot I4 a plate 20. Between the -plate 20 and the upper end of the bearing block I5 is a coil spring 2l. The `coil springs 2| force the bearing lblock I5, and; therefore, the crushing and feed roll I1 Idownwardly into close association with the crushing and feed roll I3. A hand wheel 22 on the A face of ,the platform 23.

screw I9 is utilized to assist in the rotation of the screws I9 in either direction.

To the end frame members Il is secureda platform 23, such platform, as shown in Fig. 1, being cut away at 24, to provide a housing for the lower crushing and feed roll. I3, and also to permit a portion of the periphery of the crushing and feed roll I3 to extend upwardly through the upper surface of the platform 23 in order that the crushing and feed roll I1 may assist in crushing and feeding the fibrous material 25.

The end of the platform 23 extends to a point above the side frame members I0, and the lower front face of the platform is cut away. to provide a recess in which is slidably mounted an apron 26. The under face of the apron 26 is grooved, as shown, to provide a housing for aligned pro- Jections 21 on a member 28 bolted to the under The upper outer end of the platform 23 is practically square, but is slightly rounded to prevent undue cutting of the fibrous material 25. The upper, outer end constitutes a stationary anvil 29 over which the iibrous material 25 is fed by the cooperating crushing and feed rolls I3 and I1, and such crushing and feed rolls prevent a too rapid or uneven feeding movement of the stalks of fibrous material 25. Adjacent to the anvil 29 and above the upper surface of the platform 23 is rotatably mounted a shaft' 30- carrying preferably a resilient hold down roll 3|, the function of which ing rod 53.

primarily is to prevent the ends of the stalks of n members III by bolts '32 are bearing standards 33, these bearing standards being provided with pairs of aligned bearings. In one pair of aligned bearings is rotatably mounted a shaft 34, while in the other pair of aligned bearings is rotatably mounted a shaft 35. These shafts lie parallel to each other and on such shafts are mounted the scutching .rotors 36 and 31, respectively. As shown, the scutching rotors 36 and 31, are provided with radially extending ribs or blades a.

The ribs or blades 35a of each of the decorticating rolls 36 and 31 interengage with` the depressions between the adjacent ribs or \blades 35a on the-other decorticating roll during the rotary movement of the rolls, as clearly shown in Fig'. 1.

The decorticating rolls 36 and 31 are driven at the same speed and in opposite directions by the gear 38 attached to the shaft 34, and the gear 39 attached to the shaft 35. The gears 38 and 39 are side faced gears to permit a longitudinal movement of the shafts 34 and- 35 within reasonable limits without having the gears 38 and 39 go out of mesh with each other.

The shaft 34 is the drive shaft and obtains power from a shaft 40 through a pinion 4I on such shaft 46, meshing with a driving gear 42 on the shaft 34. In order to permit a reciprocating movement of the shaft 34, the pinion 4I is made with a relatively long face. Secured to the drive shaft 40 is a bevel pinion 43 which meshes with and drives a bevel gear 44 secured to one end of a shaft 45 and from which the shaft I2, carrying the crushing and feed roll I3 is driven through suitable instrumentalities.

Secured to the under edge pf the side frame members I0 are aligned pillow blocks 45a. in

which is rotatably mounted a shaft 46 carrying 75 the sprocket wheels 41 rotating in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1. Over the sprocket wheels 41 run endless conveyor chains 48. The sprocket wheels 41 are spaced apart from each other on the shaft 46. Connecting the sprocket chains 48 are cross bars 65, such cross bars being spaced along the length of the chains 48. Along the length of the cross bars 65 are arranged pins 66. It will be understood that other sprocket wheels are mounted on a shaft similar to the shaft 46, but a showing of such other sprocket f wheels and shaft is not deemed necessary. The sprocket chains 48 with the cross bars 65 and pins 66 4constitute a conveying belt or drawing frame on which the scutched fibrous material 25 is fed and carried away to any suitable delivery point in the desired manner. The shaft 46 is driven in any desired manner, and if desired, from the main drive shaft 40, or from the drive shaft 45.

The apron 26 may be reciprocated in any desired manner. For example (see Fig. 3) on one of the side uprights II may be mounted a bearing member 49 in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 50 driven from the shaft 45. Secured to the shaft 50 is an eccentric 5I rotatably mounted in an eccentric strap 52 at one end of a connect- The other end of the connecting rod 53 is pivotally attached to one end of the apron 26. The speed of reciprocation of the apron 26 may bear any desired relation to the rotary movement of the crushing and feed rolls I3 and I1, or to the speed of rotation of the scutching rotors 36 and 31. I

'I'he scutchng rotors 36 and 31 may be reciprocated in any desired manner, as by the following mechanism (see Fig. 2). In one of the bearing uprights 33 is 4a projection 54, and in this projection is provided a shaft 55 carrying on its upper end a cam roller 56 and on its lower end a cam roller 16. On the shaft 34 is secured a cam 51 provided with a cam race 58 in which fits the uppermost cam roller 56. Secured to the shaft 35 is a cam 59 provided with a cam race 60 with which cooperates'the lowermost cam roller 16. As the shafts 34 and 35 are rotated, they will he constrained to take on a longitudinal reciprocating motion in conformity with the pitch of the cam races 58 and 66'.

The working surface of the apron 26 may be plain or grooved. Preferably the working surface is grooved and one type of such grooving is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. and on an enlarged scale in Fig. 7. In such gures the grooving is perpendicular. I may, however, have such grooving extending horizontally and reference is hereby had to Fig. 8 in which is shown, on -a relatively enlarged scale, an apron 61 provided with the horizontally arranged parallel grooves 68 with the intervening ridges 69. The grooves 68 are relatively deep and provide a recess into which the shives may be forced or moved as such shives are removed from the fibrous material 25. The apron 61 is slidably mounted in the front end of a platform 10 and the anvil portion 1I thereof lies practically, or substantially, in the curved surface in which lies the top of the ridges `69. The grooves, as the grooves 6I in Fig. 7, or the horizontal grooves shown in Fig. 8, materially assist in the removal of shives from the fibrous material, and. further, they assist in rotating the stalks of fibrous material 25 on their axes, as

the platforms.

taneously or in desired combination, a variety of situations may arise:

(1) The apron 26 may remain stationary and the scutching rotor 36 may rotate and simul taneously reciprocate.-

(2).The apron 26 remains stationary and the scutching rotors 36 and 31 may both rotate and reciprocate simultaneously but in opposite directions.

(3) The apron 26 may reciprocate and the scutchingrotor 36 may rotate ybut without reciprocating movement.

(a) The apron 26 may reciprocate, the scutching rotor 36 may rotate but not-reciprocate, and the scutching rotor 31 may rotate and simultaneously reciprocate.

may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for treating fibrous material comprising in combination a platform, combined crushing and feeding means associated therewith for feeding stalks of fibrous material over the platform at a definite rate of speed, an anvil (5) The apron 26 may reciprocate 'and the scutching rotor 36 may rotatel and reciprocate in a direction opposite to thedirection of reciprocation of the apron 26. v

(6) The' apron 26 may reciprocate, the scutching rotor 36 may rotate and reciprocate in-ian opposite direction to the reciprocation of the apron, and the scutching rotor 31 may rotate and reciprocate in a direction opposite to the reciprocation of the scutching rotor 36.

Various othercombinations of movements may be had, all within the scope of the present invention, but the above noted are illustrative andneed not be enlarged upon.

Referring now to Fig. 3, there is shown the web of fibers '25 draped from the apron 26, and being inclined in a direction to the right and downwardly as viewed in such figure. This may occur when the scutching rotor 36 is stationary but rotatable on its axis and the apron 26 reciprocated. The movement of the stalks of fiber under this combined rolling and combing action exerted between the scutching rotor 36 and the corrugated face ofthe apron 26 willresult in rolling the individualstalks on their axes, and thus bring every portion of the partially scutched stalks into operative relation to the extending faces of the scutching rotor 36. The same action will occur if the apron 26 is stationary and the reciprocatingmotion takes place in the scutching rotor 36.

Fig. 4 shows the results of a reciprocating movement of the apron in a direction opposite to that suggested with regard to Figure 3, orthe same movement ofthe stalks of fiber 25 may take place where the apron 26 is stationary and any reciprocating movement residing only in the scutching rotor 36. This rolling or turning'ofI the fibrous material 25 occurs also between scutching rotors 36 and 31, and the result of the reciprocation in one direction of either of the scutching rotors 36 and 31 is illustrated in Fig. 5, while the direction of motion of such bers in the opposite direction is illustrated in Fig. 6. As the manner in which this is produced is clearly described above withirespect to Figs. 3 and 4, a

detailed description thereof is not deemed necessary. The vertically arranged parallel grooves 6I in the working face of the apron 26 with the `resultant corrugated appearance of the working Whereas, I have described my invention by4 referencesto specic forms thereof, it will be understood that'many changes and modifications having the outermost edge of said ribs or blades `cooperating with the anvil and apron, whereby upon rotation of the scutching rotor the ribs or blades break and remove the shives from the stalks of fibrous material, and means for imparting relative reciprocating movement parallel to each other between the anvil and scutching rotors.

` 2. An apparatus for treating fibrous material comprising in combination an anvil, a platform over which stalks of brous material are fed, means for feeding the stalks of fibrous material over theplatform into association with the anvil at a predetermined rate of speed, an apron having an arcuate face located beneath the anvil and slidably mounted to move transversely of the width ofthe platform, means for reciprocating said apron, said apron being provided with a plurality of corrugations on -its working face and said corrugations extending perpendicular to the working face of the anvil, and a scutching rotor provided with a plurality of spaced radially extending ribs or blades, said scutching rotor being mounted for rotation on an axis lying parallel to the working face of the apron, whereby the working edges of the ribs or blades are in operative association with the anvil and the working faceof the apron, and means for simultaneously rotatingand imparting a reciprocatory motion to the scutching rotor and for reciprocating said rotor in`a`direction opposite to the reciprocation vof the apron.

3. An apparatus for treating fibrous material comprising in combination an anvil, a platform over which stalks of fibrous material are fed, means for feeding stalks of brous material over the platform into association with the anvil at a predetermined rate of speed, an apron having an arcuate face located beneath the anvil and slidably mounted to move transversely of the width of the platform, means for reciprocating said apron, said apron having a plurality of corrugations arranged in its working face and lying parallel to the anvil, and a'scutching rotr provided with a plurality of spaced radially extending ribs or blades, said scutching rotor being mounted for rotation on an axis lying parallel to the working face of the apron, whereby the working edges of the ribs or blades are in operative association with the anvil and the working face of the apron, arid means lfor simultaneously rotating and imparting a reciprocatory motion to the scutching rotor and for reciprocating said rotor in a direction opposite to the reciprocation of the apron.

4. An apparatus for treating fibrous material comprising in combination a stationary anvil, a feeding apparatus for feeding the fibrous mate-V stationary anvil and in a direction parallel to the 5 ed apron.- 4

axis of rotation ofthe scutching rotor. and means for rotating the scutchirig rotorto engage rst with the working edge of the stationary anvil and subsequently with the face of theslidably mount- WILLIAM A. BOYCE. t 

